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For detailed biographies of key RAF personnel
(Air Commodore and higher) there is already an excellent website: www.rafweb.orgOnly RAF
officers of ranks below Air Commodore will be shown here. Abbreviations and
explanations can be found at the help
page.

served
Special Operations Executive (SOE), responsible for planning in the RF
French section which worked in close association with General de Gaulle's Bureau
Central de Renseignements et d'Action (BCRA)

captured, imprisoned in Fresnes prison & finally
transferred to concentration camp Buchenwald, from which he escaped in April
1945

Returned to Molyneux after the war but left in 1948
for reasons of health. Representative in France, Federation of British
Industries, since 1950.Literature: Bruce Marshall, The White Rabbit (1952); Mark Seaman,
Bravest of the brave : true story of Wing Commander Tommy Yeo-Thomas - SOE
secret agent codename, the White Rabbit (1997)

* This
officer was parachuted into France on the 25th February, 1943. He showed much
courage and initiative during his mission, particularly when he enabled a French
officer who was being followed by a Gestapo agent in Paris to reach safety and
resume clandestine work in another area. He also took charge of a U.S. Army Air
Corps officer who had been shot down and, speaking no French, was in danger of
capture. This officer returned to England on the 15th April, 1943, in the
aircraft which picked up Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas. Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas
undertook a second mission on the 17th September, 1943. Soon after his arrival
in France many patriots were arrested. Undeterred, he continued his enquiries
and obtained information which enabled the desperate situation to be rectified.
On six occasions he narrowly escaped arrest. He returned to England on the 15th
November, 1943, bringing British intelligence archives which he had secured from
a house watched by the Gestapo. This officer was again parachuted into France in
February, 19144. Despite every security precaution he was betrayed to the
Gestapo in Paris on the 21st March. While being taken by car to Headquarters he
was badly beaten up. He then underwent 4 days continuous interrogation,
interspersed with beatings and torture, including immersions, head downwards, in
ice-cold water, with legs and arms chained. Interrogations later continued for 2
months and Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas was offered his freedom in return for
information concerning the Head of a Resistance Secretariat. Owing to his wrist
being cut by chains, he contracted blood-poisoning and nearly lost his left arm.
He made two daring but unsuccessful attempts to escape. He was then confined in
solitude in Fresnes prison for 4 months, including 3 weeks in a darkened cell
with very little food. Throughout these months of almost continuous torture, he
steadfastly refused to disclose any information. On the 17th July, Wing
Commander Yeo-Thomas was sent with a party to Compiegne prison, from which he
twice attempted to escape. He and 36 others were then transferred to Buchenwald.
On the way, they stopped for 3 days at Saarbrucken, where they were beaten and
kept in a tiny hut. They arrived at Buchenwald on the 16th August and 16 of them
were executed and cremated on the 10th September. Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas had
already commenced to organise resistance within the camp and remained undaunted
by the prospect of a similar fate. He accepted an opportunity of changing his
identity with that of a dead French prisoner, on condition that other officers
would also be enabled to do so. In this way, he was instrumental in saving the
lives of two officers. Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas was later transferred to a work
kommando for Jews. In
attempting to escape he was picked up by a German patrol and, claiming French
nationality, was transferred to a camp near Marienburg for French prisoners of
war. On the 16th April, 1945, he led a party of 20 in a most gallant attempt to
escape in broad daylight. 10 were killed by fire from the guards. Those who
reached cover split up into small groups. Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas became
separated from his companions after 3 days without food. He continued alone for
a week and was recaptured when only 800 yards from the American lines. A few
days later he escaped with a party of 10 French prisoners of war, whom he led
through German patrols to the American lines. Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas thus
turned his final mission into a success by his determined opposition to the
enemy, his strenuous efforts to maintain the morale of his fellow-prisoners and
his brilliant escape activities. He endured brutal treatment and torture without
flinching and showed the most amazing fortitude and devotion to duty throughout
his service abroad, during which he was under the constant threat of death.

A Flight
Commander, 617
Squadron RAF[took off in his Lancaster III [ED887 AJ-A]
at 21.47 hrs at Scampton for Operation
Chastise, tasked to bomb the Möhne
Dam; dropped its weapon as briefed; set course, as deputy leader, for the Eder
Dam before heading for base; shot down by flak while clearing the Dutch coast
and crashed 02.58 hrs off Castricum aan Zee]

missing,
presumed killed as passenger aboard Hudson
FK386 of 117 Squadron RAF, that was flying at 17:37 hrs from Portreath to North
Africa, but failed to reach Gibraltar; Lt. Heinz Olbrecht of 15./Kampfgeschwader
40 claimed to have shot down two Hudsons, possibly one them being FK386